Method and apparatus for outlet location selection using the market region partition and marginal increment assignment algorithm

Abstract

A system and method of determining at least one location for a retail outlet in a region are described. The system and method use clustering technology for partitioning the region into a fixed number of sub-regions. Then, the system and method compute marginal increments from input data for each sub-region. The system and method choose a sub-region having a maximal marginal increment for a location of a first retail outlet.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] This invention relates generally to selecting a location for a retail outlet in a market region, and more particularly to a method that considers customer's accessibility for determining an optimal outlet location.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] Certain types of retail outlets, such as convenience stores, 7-Eleven, pharmacies, KFC food stores, bank branches, post offices, and the like are located at busy street level locations in a market region for serving residents of local communities. Customer's accessibility to such outlets may be constrained by physical barriers such as a highway, or a fence, or a river, etc., that do not relate to distance, but are factors that should be considered. These constraints should be considered when we evaluate the fitness of a location for outlets. A method for evaluating a plurality of potential sites in a given city for one or more optimal locations is a computer-intensi...

Examples

Embodiment Construction

[0023]The selection of one or a network of optimal sites for placing a business outlet such as one or more stores in a given city can be a tedious and difficult problem to resolve. For example, the number of possible locations may be relatively large, as many as millions of possible outlet locations for a medium size city, where the number of outlets that are to be established may also be large, e.g., several dozens or more. Given an evaluation function of an outlet location, the problem of finding a number of optimal locations can be a relatively large combination problem that is difficult to solve. The brute force search is a general problem solving technique that enumerates all possible candidates for a solution and checking whether each candidate satisfies a problem's statement. For example, the brute force search to find divisor of an integer n is to enumerate all integers from 1 to n, and check whether each of them divides n without a remainder. Traditional method for determin...

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] This invention relates generally to selecting a location for a retail outlet in a market region, and more particularly to a method that considers customer's accessibility for determining an optimal outlet location.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] Certain types of retail outlets, such as convenience stores, 7-Eleven, pharmacies, KFC food stores, bank branches, post offices, and the like are located at busy street level locations in a market region for serving residents of local communities. Customer's accessibility to such outlets may be constrained by physical barriers such as a highway, or a fence, or a river, etc., that do not relate to distance, but are factors that should be considered. These constraints should be considered when we evaluate the fitness of a location for outlets. A method for evaluating a plurality of potential sites in a given city for one or more optimal locations is a computer-intensi...

Examples

Embodiment Construction

[0023]The selection of one or a network of optimal sites for placing a business outlet such as one or more stores in a given city can be a tedious and difficult problem to resolve. For example, the number of possible locations may be relatively large, as many as millions of possible outlet locations for a medium size city, where the number of outlets that are to be established may also be large, e.g., several dozens or more. Given an evaluation function of an outlet location, the problem of finding a number of optimal locations can be a relatively large combination problem that is difficult to solve. The brute force search is a general problem solving technique that enumerates all possible candidates for a solution and checking whether each candidate satisfies a problem's statement. For example, the brute force search to find divisor of an integer n is to enumerate all integers from 1 to n, and check whether each of them divides n without a remainder. Traditional method for determin...

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